The Get Ready to Read! screen-

ing tool is a 20-item early literacy

screening tool for young children

in the year before kindergarten. It

was developed in conjunction with

the National Center for Learning

Disabilities by some of the country’s

top reading researchers, and is

available in English and Spanish.

The Get Ready to Read! screening

tool takes about 10 minutes to administer, and was designed to provide early childhood

professionals and parents with a “snapshot” of where a child is on the path to devel-

oping important early literacy skills. The screening tool is NOT a formal assessment or

a way to identify disabilities. However, it can give you important information about a

child’s skills that can help inform what you do in the classroom.

The Get Ready to Read! screening tool is typically administered in the fall of the year

before a child starts kindergarten, again in the spring before kindergarten starts, and

occasionally one additional time in between. However, you can get useful information

about a child’s skills anytime during the year before kindergarten, and use that informa-

tion to help inform classroom and home activities. The skill-building activities included

in this section are a good starting point. There are also special activity cards for parents

to use with their children in the parent section of this toolkit.

This section includes a guide to using the Get Ready to Read! screening tool with the

children in your care, and also a guide to scoring and interpreting the screening tool.

The items on the Get Ready to Read! screening tool are based on skills that many years

of research have shown to be especially important for a you ng child to be ready to

learn to read. These skills include:

The Get Ready to Read! Screening Tool

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To date, an estimated 345,000 4-year-olds have been screened using the tool.

Print knowledge: a child’s understanding of books, printed letters,

and words. Skills include:

• Differentiating print from pictures

• Functions of print

• Book rules

• Print components

• Rules of print

• Naming letters

Linguistic awareness: a child’s understanding of how words and lan-

guage works. Skills include:

• Active listening

• Vocabulary

• Rhyming words

• Segmenting sentences

• Segmenting words

• Phonemic awareness

Emergent writing: a child’s first efforts to create and use print in a

meaningful way. Skills include:

• Scribbling

• Drawing

• Copying

• Printing letters

• Printing name

• Invented spelling

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How to Use the Get Ready to Read! Screening Tool

1.Look through the screening tool. It helps to read through

the screening tool right before you begin screening the children to familiarize

yourself with the tool.

2.Find a quiet place to work with one child at a time. Find a place where you will be able to sit next to, not across from, the

child at a table, on a couch or on the floor. It helps to have a flat surface like a

small table in front of you on which you can show the screening items. The child

does not have to be removed from the classroom or home setting. You can use

a quiet corner where there won’t be a lot of distractions. You will need about

10 minutes to complete the screening with a child.

3.Plan ahead to make the screening process run smoothly. If you are in a classroom, family child care home or other

group setting, you may want to tell the children who will be screened that they

are all going to have a chance to do this special activity. Select an easy going,

interested child to screen first or ask for volunteers. Be encouraging. Approach

the child individually and take him or her to the screening area.

4.Prepare the screening area and gather the materials that you

will need: the screening tool, a separate answer sheet labeled with the child’s

name, and a pencil or pen.

5.Complete the information about the child at the top of the answer sheet. Be sure that you also fill in the date and

which screening this will be for the child (e.g., first, second).

6.Place the screening booklet directly in front of the child. The child should have a straight and direct view of the screening tool

items. Be sure to only show the child one page at a time, by folding the booklet

back, as you administer the 20 items of the screening tool.

Transitioning to Kindergarten The Get Ready to Read! Screening Tool: H

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7.Start with the sample item. The purpose of the sample item

is to make sure that the child understands what to do. When you are ready to

begin the screening with a child, you will open the booklet to page 9 and fold

the page back to show just the sample item. Place the booklet directly in front

of the child and put the copy of the answer sheet in front of you. First, intro-

duce the activity to the child: Let’s look at some pictures. [Point to the pictures

in the sample item.] I will ask you a question about them and you put your

finger on the picture that is the best answer to the question. Let’s try one. Then,

read aloud the sample item on page 9 using the exact words that are in the

screening tool.

8.On the sample item you may give hints and feedback to make sure that the child under-stands the instructions. You may not do this on the 20 items in

the tool. Give the child general praise after he or she completes the sample

item. Say something like this:

You’ve got the idea! Now I am going to ask you some more questions. Each

time I ask a question, you choose the picture that is the best answer. Just look

carefully at the pictures and pick the one you think is right.

Once the child has selected an answer on each item, mark the child’s choice

directly on the answer sheet by circling the answer that the child has chosen.

9.Then, proceed with the 20 items of the screening tool, one by one, in the order in which they appear in the manual. Ask each question exactly how it is worded

in the screening tool. Be sure to show the child just one item at a time by fold-

ing the page back. Circle the answer that the child has chosen for each item as

soon as the child selects it. Do not worry at this time about checking to see if it

is the correct answer.

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How to Score theGet Ready to Read! Screening Tool

1. As you are administering the tool, circle the child’s answer for each item. You

should NOT decide whether the answer is correct or incorrect at this point

because you will want to move on to the next question.

2.When you are ready to score a child’s answer sheet, you will need BOTH the

answer sheet that you used with the child and the answer sheet with the

correct answers shaded to use as an “answer key.” This “answer key” can be

found on page 30 of the Get Ready to Read! manual.

3.Place the answer sheet and the “answer key” from the manual side by side on

the table in front of you.

4. Begin with Item 1—remember not to score the Item Sample! For each question,

compare the child’s answer with the answer that is shaded on the “answer key.”

If the child’s answer is correct, place a “1” in the lower right corner of that box.

If the child’s answer is not correct, place a “0” (zero) in the lower right corner of

that box.

5. Count the number of correct answers by counting only the “1’s” that you

wrote. Remember…do not count the sample!

6. Count the answers again to double-check your counting.

7. When you are sure of the score, write the total number of correct answers in the

box at the bottom of the page.

Transitioning to Kindergarten The Get Ready to Read! Screening Tool: H

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Transitioning to KindergartenThe Get Ready to Read! Screening Tool: H

ow to Score

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